Crop Protection

Major Achievements

Over the last three decades the Division has established the etiology and epidemiology of major diseases of spices, surveyed the spice growing areas of the country and catalogued the major pests and pathogens and developed integrated pest/disease management measures to control them. In pursuit of clean spices without any pesticide residues, the Division is actively engaged in developing pest/disease resistant lines and biocontrol agents that suppress the pathogens. Notable among the resistant lines developed are IISR Shakti (Phytophthora resistant black pepper line), Pournami (root knot nematode resistant black pepper line), IISR Vijetha (‘Katte’ resistant cardamom selection), IISR Avinash (rhizome rot resistant cardamom line), IISR Mahima (root knot nematode resistant ginger selection) and IISR Pragati (root knot nematode tolerant turmeric selection). The efficient strains of biocontrol agents developed by the Division like Trichoderma harzianum, Pseudomonas spp., Pochonia chlamydosporia, Lecanicillium psalliote etc. are quite popular among the farming community and are successfully commercialized. Highly reliable and sensitive diagnostic tools have been standardized for rapid detection of viruses, bacteria, fungi and nematodes infecting spices.

Research Programs

The major problems handled by the scientists of the Division are Phytophthora foot rot, slow decline, anthracnose, viral diseases of black pepper, rhizome rot and viral diseases of cardamom, soft rot and bacterial wilt of ginger, foliar diseases of turmeric and diseases of vanilla. Besides, insect and nematode problems of these spices are also addressed. Some of the ongoing research projects are:

Project VII. Bio-Intensive management of pests in spices (Project leader: Dr. T.K. Jacob)

1. Ent. XIV (813): Survey and documentation of naturally occurring entomopathogens in spice cropping systems (2012-2018) [Dr. C.M. Senthil Kumar, Dr. T.K. Jacob & Dr. M. Balaji Rajkumar]

Externally funded
2. ICAR-ORP 3: Outreach programme on management of sucking pests in horticultural crops: (2009-2018) [Dr. T.K. Jacob, Dr. M. Balaji Rajkumar & Dr. C.M. Senthil Kumar]

3. ICAR-CP 1. ICAR-Consortium research project on borers in network mode (2014-2017) [Dr. C.M. Senthil Kumar, Dr. T.K. Jacob & Dr. M. Balaji Rajkumar]
 

Project VIII. Integrated management of fungal and bacterial diseases of spices (Project leader: Dr. R. Suseela Bhai)

4. Crop. Prot. 1.5 (813): Integrated management of Phytophthora foot rot and slow decline diseases of black pepper (2008-2018) [Dr. R. Suseela Bhai, Dr. Santhosh J. Eapen, Dr. Rashid Pervez & Dr. T.P. Ahammed Shabeer, NRCG, Pune]

5. Path. XXIV (813): Surveillance, documentation and development of decision support system for pests and diseases of major spice crops (2016-2020) [Dr CN Biju, Dr. S. Devasahayam, Dr. Santhosh J. Eapen, Dr. T. K. Jacob, Dr. R. Suseela Bhai, Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat, Dr. C. M. Senthil Kumar, Dr. R. Praveena, Dr. Mohammed Faisal Peeran, Dr. C. Sarathambal, Dr. Lijo Thomas & Mr. K. Jayarajan]

6. Path. XXV (813): Spatiotemporal dynamics in relation to ecology and epidemiology of fungal foliar diseases in ginger and turmeric and management (2016-2020) [Dr. R.Praveena, Dr. R. Suseela Bhai, Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat, Dr. K S. Krishnamurthy & Dr. C. Sarathambal)

7. Path. XXVI (813): Revisiting wilt diseases of vanilla and exploitation of associated microbiome for its management (2016-2019) [Dr. Mohammed Faisal Peeran, Dr. C. Sarathambal& Dr. M. Alagupalamuthirsolai]
 

Project IX. Development of diagnostic kits and integrated management of viral diseases (Project leader: Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat)

8. Path XXIII (813): Identification and development of diagnostics for unknown viruses associated with cardamom and ginger (2016-2019) [Dr. A. Ishwara Bhat & Dr. C. N. Biju]
 

Major Facilities

• The National Repository of Phytophthora
• Repository of biocontrol agents
• Accredited virus indexing facility
• Molecular plant pathology lab
• Insect biocontrol laboratory
• Nematology laboratory